Bill William Thomas Berry was borne on the 31 th of July 1958 in Minnesota. But his family soon moved to Macon, Georgia. Bill started to play the drums very early in his life. He played in several school-bands and it was in one of them he met Mike Mills (he played the Bass). Bill early started to hate Mike for his look; short hair and glasses; and for him being a good student. But that hate suddenly dissapears when Bills' band needed a bass player. From hating each other Bill and Mike became the best of friends and they spent the rest of their school-years together playing covers in several different bands. After graduating 1976 they both decided to quit playing covers... it didn't bring in enough money for them to afford food and stuff. They got an apartment together and Bill got a job as a messenger at a movie company where he met Ian Copeland (from The Frustrations). Bill, Ian and Mike together started a band but it soon split up again. Bill moved with Mike Mills to Athens, Georgia 1979. And there he started to play in a local band where he met Michael Stipe and Peter Buck. They soon quit the band to start their own band together with Mike Mills. They began to play in churches on weekends and soon they all quit school to really "go" for the band. They called themselves "Twisted Kites" and now the early R.E.M. was formed. After two months of touring all over the world the drummer, Bill Berry, collapsed on stage with a brain aneurysm. About one year later, and after not as good results with their newest record "New Adventures in HiFi" Bill decided to quit playing in R.E.M.

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